Archive for March, 2008
First Legally Blind Governor
David Paterson takes office as New Yorks first African-American governor and the USA’s first-ever legally blind governor.
Paterson replaces Eliot Spitzer who had to resign. Paterson considers himself a conciliator; a sharp contrast to the former governor’s style.
Paterson has only been lieutenant governor for 14 months and will now move into the prominent position of Governor of New York.
David Paterson lost all his sight in his left eye due to an infection when he was only three months old. His vision in his right eye is extremely limited.
Employers Negative Attitude Impact Blind Workers
With the upcoming swearing-in of David Paterson as governor of New York, The Associated Press ran a story entitled Employer Bias Thwarts Many Blind Workers.
In the story they point out that the biggest obstacle to employment for blind persons is the negative attitude of many employers.
Technology and training has made it possible for blind and visually impaired persons to perform many job duties that employers think they are not capable of performing.
While blind people hold all sorts of jobs these days— examples cited in the AP article were judge, fitness trainer, TV show host, registered nurse, and lawyer.
"Unfortunately we’re still living in an age of misperceptions of what blind people can do," said Carl Augusto, president of the American Foundation for the Blind. "We’re hoping that an employer considering hiring a blind person will say that if David Paterson can be governor and be legally blind, maybe this applicant who is blind can be a good computer programmer."
There are an estimated 10 million visually impaired people in the United States, including about 1.3 million who are legally blind, according to Augusto’s foundation. The foundation says legal blindness is generally described as visual acuity of 20-200 or less in the better eye, with a corrective lens.
"The assisted technology has made the playing field as level as it’s ever been for blind people," said Kirk Adams, president of Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind, a nonprofit agency that provides job help. "There are fewer and fewer jobs a blind person can’t do."
The article states that there is a lot of frustration among blind kids, 16 to 18 years old. Many of the typical first job opportunities are not being made available by employers despite requirements by the ADA legislation.
"The fact is that in the 21st century workplace people who are blind are just as able to do a job as anyone else—they just need to be given a chance," said EEOC spokesman David Grinberg. "They know the deck is stacked against them. They work harder than others, and they end out being more effective workers."
Rather then leaving people at the mercy of understanding employers, the Blind Online Success System teaches skills that allow a blind or visually impaired person to become their own boss. They are able to work from home, online, and this also helps with transportation issues that can complicate looking for a job.
If you are interested in knowing more about the BOSS program, click below.
Click Here For Blind Online Success System Information
If you are not blind or visually impaired but are interested in being able to work for yourself online, please click below to visit the best training program available.
Staff Member Discovers Helen Keller Photo
This 1888 photo released by the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston shows Helen Keller when she was eight years old, left, holding hands with her teacher, Anne Sullivan, during a summer vacation to Brewster, Mass., on Cape Cod. A staff member at the society discovered the photograph in a large photography collection recently donated to the society. This is believed to be the first known photograph of Helen Keller with one of her 
dolls.
"It’s really one of the best images I’ve seen in a long, long time," said Helen Selsdon, an archivist at the American Federation for the Blind, where Keller worked for more than 40 years. "This is just a huge visual addition to the history of Helen and Annie."
You can read about how this photo was hidden away for over a century here…